


Two of a Kind

by paperjamBipper



Category: We Bare Bears (TV)
Genre: Board Games, Budding Love, Fluff, M/M, Metaphors Everywhere, Unspoken Romantic Tension, borderlining the opposite of a hurt/comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-10
Updated: 2019-04-10
Packaged: 2020-01-10 19:04:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18414011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paperjamBipper/pseuds/paperjamBipper
Summary: "I can’t ever give up on someone like Charlie”“Well…” Grizz places a paw on his shoulder. “Have you ever told him that?”“What?” Panda blushes.“Charlie. What you just said to me, have you ever told him that?”





	Two of a Kind

**Author's Note:**

> yet another collaboration with @goosieboosie on Tumblr!

“No!” Panda exclaims, throwing his arms in the air. “This can’t be happening!”

“Aw, it’s okay, Pan-Pan” Charlie gently pats him on the head. “If it’s any consolation, I’d say you were falsely accused.”

“I’ll say” Panda grumbles as he moves his game piece into the prison square for the second time this game and hands Charlie the pair of dice. “I think someone’s conspiring against me”

Charlie gasps dramatically as he rolls the dice to take his own turn. “In my kingdom? Impossible! I’ll lock up anyone who tries to conspire against my sweet Pan-Pan”

“Hey!” Grizz jabs a paw towards Charlie’s direction. “No teaming up. You know the rules, Charlie. Panda’s been a bad boy, so he has to stay in jail until he proves himself worthy of freedom”

“Or until Panda rolls doubles” Ice Bear pipes up as he takes the dice from Charlie. “But Grizz is right. Panda still a bad boy”

Panda blushes. “I really wish you’d stop saying it like that”

“Aww, but it’s adorable!” Charlie chimes, winding an arm around Panda’s shoulder. “My little rebel” he grins, and ruffles up the hair on top of Panda’s head. Panda groans, and stands from the couch to free himself from Charlie’s grip.

“I’m getting more snacks. Call me back in when I can roll for bail”

Charlie grins and gives him thumbs up as Panda disappears into the kitchen, and Panda can’t help but suddenly feel a little bad for what he’d just done. It’s the game he’s frustrated with, not Charlie, so he really could’ve handled that a little more gracefully than he did.

It was Grizz’s idea to invite Charlie over after the three of them had found a large stack of old board games at a yard sale for $5. It’d been a while since they all gathered just to do something for the fun in it, and as Grizz put it, “there’s nothing more fun than ruining your friendships over one round of a game”.

He was right; Panda realized when Charlie came over. It was the first time he’d been over in a while just to be himself, and Panda doesn’t really realize how much he’d missed that side of Charlie until he walked in. He wasted no time in saying hello, sweeping Panda off of the floor in a tight, inescapable hug. He was grinning from ear to ear and bouncing on his feet in excitement, something Panda hadn’t seen in a while and suddenly found himself wishing he could see more of in the future. There’s something so contagious about Charlie’s happiness, about the way he giggles at his own jokes even when they’re not that funny, that Panda can’t help but get sucked into it.

There’s a sudden tap at his shoulder, and Panda yelps in surprise.

“Panda? Did you hear me?” Grizz says, holding out the dice to him. “I said it’s your turn”

“Huh?” Panda takes the dice from Grizz. “But I thought I was in jail”

“Oh, you were! But then Charlie also landed on the go-to-jail spot, and the prison space is too small for two pieces. There’s nothing in the rules about two players in jail at the same time, so we tried to tell him he could just ignore it and move on, but he insisted on taking your place for you”

“He did?” Panda blinks, and peeks around the corner. Charlie’s laughing about something to Ice, and sure enough, he pushed Panda’s piece a single space in front of the prison and placed his own piece in its place. “Oh geez, he knew I was kidding about being upset by it, right?”

Grizz shrugs. “He said it was only fair and claimed you deserved justice for your actions. He says as long as you’re happy he doesn’t care much for what happens to him”

Panda knows Charlie’s referring to his in-game character, and not actually himself, but the uncanny phrasing is enough to make Panda wince. He sits down at the kitchen table, gazing at the pair of dice, until Grizz takes a seat next to him.

“You okay? You seem awfully distracted”

Panda fiddles with the dice on the table. “You don’t…think I’m being too harsh on Charlie, do you?”

“What? No, dude, I just said he knows it’s all part of the game”

Panda shakes his head. “That’s not what I meant. ‘I deserve justice for my actions?’ ‘It doesn’t matter as long as I’m happy’?  Grizz, you don’t think he’s referring to…more than just the game, do you?”

“Ah, I wouldn’t worry about it” Grizz pats Panda on the shoulder. “You know better than anybody that Charlie isn’t the type to hold a grudge against anyone”

“I…I know, but…” Panda trails off, glancing in the direction of the living room. “He’s a lot smarter than I give him credit for sometimes, and…it makes me wonder if he thinks I don’t care about him, or something”

“Don’t you?”

“What?” Panda asks, raising an eyebrow in Grizz’s direction. “I care about him a lot! He’s…” he pauses, finding himself blushing lightly. “He’s my best friend.” He shakes his head. “He’s my best friend” he repeats in a more affirmative tone. “When he was trying to help me out of that toxic lake, and I was trying to tell him to try to keep his head above the toxic waste so he wouldn’t accidentally swallow any of it, he seemed like he was…surprised I wanted to make sure he was okay”. Panda glances down towards his paws. “And when I couldn’t grab his hand because I was still stuck in my bubble, he was…so quick to give up, which is so unlike him, considering. It just makes me wonder if…he thought I was going to give up on him.” Panda shakes his head. “I couldn’t. I can’t.  I can’t ever give up on someone like Charlie”

“Well…” Grizz places a paw on his shoulder. “Have you ever told him that?”

“What?” Panda blushes.

“Charlie. What you just said to me, have you ever told him that?”

“Of course I have!” Panda exclaims, throwing his arms in the air in exasperation, but then, almost too quiet for Grizz to hear, adds “…in the spur of the moment”

“See? Then there’s your problem.  You’ve gotta tell him how you feel about him when there isn’t anything at risk. I see how you two are together, Pan-Pan. You’re two of a kind.”

Panda blushes. “Are you crazy? You mean right now? What would I even say to him?”

“Well that’s easy!” Grizz grins. “Exactly what you just said to me. That wasn’t that hard, was it?”

“No, but-”

“Exactly!” Grizz says, and stands from the table. “Ice and I’ll even get out of your way” he says, but before Panda can make any sort of protest Grizz is already back in the living room. Panda sighs as he stands as well, and takes a bag of half-eaten chips out of the pantry just so he doesn’t return to the living room empty handed. 

“As I was saying…” Grizz says as Panda returns to his seat beside Charlie, who grins at his return. “I was thinking of heading into the city to pick up a few pizzas. It’s a lot faster than delivery, and while I’m out I can go buy some more snacks.”

Panda squints at Grizz. He sees what he’s doing, trying to get him and Charlie alone for an hour or so. “I think we’re good” Panda chimes in, pulling out his phone. “I can call in a pizza from the place close by if time’s really what you’re worried about”

Grizz squints back at him. “Fine. But that means I have to go look in the kitchen for the number. Might take a while, since we have numbers saved for like, all of the restaurants downtown”.

“Ice Bear will help look” Ice Bear suddenly stands, like Grizz somehow already managed to fill him in on the details, and follows him into the kitchen.

“Well, they sure are acting weird!” Charlie grins, but brushes the comment off just as quickly as he’d made it. “But now that you’re back I guess that means you can take your turn!” he scratches at his head. “Not much you can do, though, since your brothers are out there and I’m stuck in jail”

Panda snickers at that. “Charlie, you didn’t have to. I’m used to being stuck in jail for half the game”

“Nah, don’t sweat it!” Charlie smiles as he watches Panda take his turn. “We’re like partners in crime now that I’m stuck in jail too. It’s what we do” he winks, and makes a clicking sound with his tongue. 

“Are you sure?” Panda asks, handing him the dice to roll for bail.

“A’course! Just like what I told Grizz. If it makes you happy, it makes me happy”

Panda smiles, but can’t help but snicker at Charlie’s failed attempt to bail himself out of prison with the dice. “You know,” he jokes, taking the dice back. “If we really are partners in crime, that means I could go steal some of the money out of the other game boxes and help bail you out myself”.

Charlie laughs. “You’d do that for me?”

Panda shrugs. “We’re partners. It’s what we do”

Charlie smiles again, but the sound of Grizz clearing his throat causes Panda to turn his head.

“Found it!” Grizz suddenly exclaims, stepping out of the kitchen with a slip of paper in his hand. “Pan-Pan, mind if we borrow you phone for a minute?” he gestures with his head to follow him, and Panda looks over at Charlie, who’s paying more attention to the game board than to them before he groans and follows his brothers back into the kitchen.

“Well? What are you waiting for?”  Grizz asks, crossing his arms over his chest once they’re out of Charlie’s earshot.

“I’m trying, okay? You know how bad I am at this sort of thing. I just need time.”

“Hmm…” Grizz hums. “Okay. But I’m watching you”

“Grizz, we’re playing a board game. You have to watch me to know when it’s your tu-”

“Shhhh….” Grizz shushes, covering Panda’s mouth with his paw. “I said I’ll be watching you”

Panda smacks Grizz’s paw away, and grumbles as he follows his two brothers back out into the living room, and soon learns just how literal Grizz had been when he said he’d be watching him. Each time Panda hands something to Charlie, or when Charlie nudges him with his elbow when the two of them just happened to roll doubles on the dice back to back and called it “good luck from his partner”, or when they both break out into giggles at the same time in the same manner at a throwaway joke Ice makes about the two of them beating him, Panda catches Grizz’s gaze switching back and forth between him and Charlie.

Panda learns to ignore it. Charlie doesn’t seem to notice it’s happening at all, and Grizz isn’t making any loud outbursts or dramatically pushing them into a small space together and threatening the life of Panda’s phone if they don’t talk, or whatever, so Panda just brushes off what he assumes is an empty threat and turns his focus back on the game.

Key word: _assumes._

They’re playing Monopoly some time later. Panda’s surprised to find that Grizz actually followed through on his little ruse and ended up ordering a few pizzas, which by special request for Charlie’s sake he requested the delivery person leave the pizza outside on the lawn chair.  At first Panda just thought he was leaving to try to push him into talking to Charlie again, but he’s surprised when he actually comes back in with a large pizza box in each hand.  A meat lover’s with anchovies for himself and Ice, and a veggie pizza for Panda and Charlie. The game goes on as it usually does, with Ice managing to afford three hotels on every property he owns and managing over $1,000 in left over money, until Panda lands his piece on Boardwalk.

One of the few properties Ice Bear doesn’t even own at all. Which should be great, except-

“I’m _ten dollars short?”_ Panda whines, dropping his head into his paws in defeat.

“Looks like it~” Grizz singsongs, fanning himself with his own wad of fake cash as if to show off how much more he has than him. “So what’ll it be? I’ll let that measly $10 slide _if_ you’re willing to hand it all over and forfeit the game, _or_ you can forfeit Boardwalk and hope it’s still up for grabs the next time you pass GO”.

Panda blinks. “So my options are….to quit the game, just for bragging rights of control over Boardwalk for ten seconds, or to…keep playing.”

“But give up Boardwalk.”

Panda raises an eyebrow at Grizz, like the two options are even comparable. He’s about to place his money back down on the table, an indication that he’d rather keep playing, when-

“Wait” Charlie says, stopping him from letting his fake money touch the table’s surface. “What if there was a third option?”

“Huh?” Panda asks, and turns to look at Charlie in almost perfect synchrony with his brothers. “Like what?”

“Well, you only need a ten, right? I’ve got plenty of them. Why don’t you just take one of mine to help pay for the boardwalk?”  Charlie pulls a ten dollar bill from his own small pile of money and offers it to him.

“Really?” Panda asks, eyeing the fake dollar bill like it’s worth a thousand in real money. “You do realize that if you help me buy it and then you land on it, the rent is gonna cost you almost the rest of your money the next time you land on it, right?”

“Ah, this game’s pretty confusing anyway. If it can help you win, I’d love to give you the rest of my…” he pauses to count out his bills. “…$120 to help you. Matter of fact, if I have to pay the rent anyway, you can take the rest of my money and _I_ can forfeit the game for you”. Charlie picks up the rest of his money, along with his two property cards, and offers them to Panda with a bright grin on his face.

Panda returns Charlie’s bright grin with a soft smile of his own, and he’s about to take him up on his offer when he just barely notices Grizz jumping to his feet from his spot on the couch.

“Oh, would you look at the time!” He exclaims, gesturing to a clock on the wall that doesn’t exist. “Looks like Ice and I suddenly have somewhere to be that isn’t here. How random.”

“Oh?” Charlie tilts his head. “Well, okay, then I can go, if it’s so important”

“Oh, no, you can stay! You should finish the game. _Right, Panda?”_ Grizz nudges him roughly. “He should _stay here_ in case there’s a _new development_ in the game?”

Panda groans, dragging his paws down his face. “Grizz, that’s _enough._ I’m tired of you trying to interrupt every game we play just because I won’t-” he catches himself, and turns his glance over to Charlie, who’s hanging on to every word he’s saying with intense focus.

“You won’t what?”

Panda sighs. There’s no point in holding it off any further now.

“Charlie, can we talk? In my room?”

“Sure!” Charlie exclaims as he stands to his feet just as Grizz sits back down with a smug grin on his face, and follows Panda to his room. “So what’s this all about---Oh!” he exclaims, for as soon as Panda closes the door to his room he throws his arms around Charlie in a hug. “Well that’s sweet of you, Pan-Pan” he says, and he’s quick to return Panda’s hug. “What’s all this for?”

Panda pulls away from the hug smiling. “I just wanted to talk to you about something” he says, and gestures to his bed as an invitation for Charlie to sit as he takes to his desk chair.

“Sure, anything!” Charlie smiles as he takes a seat on the side of Panda’s bed.

“Charlie?” Panda asks, for lack of a better conversational transition.

“Yeah?”

Here goes nothing.

“I really care about you”.

Charlie’s eyes go wide, like that’s the last thing he was expecting to hear. “What?”

Panda giggles shyly. “I said I really care about you.” He rubs shyly at the back of his head. “The reason Grizz was acting funny is because he was just trying to push me out of my own head” he shakes his head. “Very few people can bring me out of it, Charlie, and one of them is you”.

“I’m…” Charlie rubs at the back of his head, but he’s smiling widely and averting his eyes to the ground. “I’m speechless, Pan-Pan” he mumbles, and Panda smiles as he stands to sit beside Charlie instead. “I really care about you too”.

Panda nods. “I know you do.” He casts a small glance down to his bedspread, and places his paw down a mere inch away from Charlie’s hand “Do you remember what I said to you when we were at the toxic lake?” he rubs at the back of his head with his free paw. “Or…could you even hear what I said?”

Charlie frowns, very temporarily, as he visually digs through his thoughts. “I don’t think I could. What’d you say?”

Panda laughs again, but it’s a sheepish laugh. “That’s what I was talking to Grizz about this morning. I…” he pauses, and squeezes his eyes shut like it’s going to help him feel any less flustered about saying it out loud. “I said _I can’t lose you”._

There’s a tiny gasp next to him, and when Panda returns his glance to Charlie his eyes are sparkling. “You did?”

“I did” Panda states. “And that….doesn’t just stand for life and death situations, Charlie. Yes, initially I said it in a moment of blind panic, but here I am arguing with Grizz over Monopoly ownerships and I still mean every word of it”. He begins kicking his legs against the side of his bed nervously. “As a matter of fact, I was just talking to Grizz about it when we were still playing King of Frost Mountain”.

Charlie wasn’t kidding about the speechless part. He opens his mouth and then closes it again, like a fish out of water, before he catches himself and it’s replaced with another wide smile. Panda shifts to kneel on his bed so he can look more directly at him. “I said I wouldn’t give up on you. I said I _couldn’t._ Not now, not ever.” He averts his eyes. “I know I’ve been hard on you in the past. You were right, the one time we ever had a real argument. I’ve been a real dingle to you.  I’m sorry”

Charlie blinks, and shifts himself to adjust so he can look more directly at Panda as well. “You? You’ve got nothing to apologize for, pumpkin. I don’t hold grudges against nobody unless they absolutely deserve it”

“But…” Panda pauses. “Don’t I?”

Charlie shakes his head. “Of course not, sweetie. You may lash out sometimes, but you always feel remorse. You always go out of your way to prove that you want to make things right.” He smiles. “It’s like you said. You’ve _never_ given up on me. Even when a good amount of people would have. I know I have my impulses, Panda. It’s how I got so many people after me in the first place”. A brief pause. “But you know?” he says, now turning his attention to something behind Panda, and when he turns to see what Charlie’s looking at Panda sees that it’s his pile of half-finished paintings he’d started of Charlie a while back. “Nothing means more to me than knowing that you accept me for who I am”.

The same could be said about Charlie. Panda’s gone through countless heartbreak, he’s chased away a number of friends for behaving too manipulative and impulsive, but since he’s met Charlie he’s found himself doing none of the sort around him. All he’s ever needed to be was his true genuine self.

Outside of his brothers, that makes Charlie one of, if not, the first.

He grins, launching himself at Charlie again, throwing himself around him and burying his face closely into Charlie’s chest. Charlie’s quick to respond, wrapping himself around Panda and pecking a kiss on his head before burying his own face into the top of Panda’s head.

“Partner”, Panda murmurs, muffled by Charlie’s fur.

“Partner” Charlie murmurs back, his reply muffled by Panda’s.

**Author's Note:**

> 🎵'cause I need you here with me 🎵


End file.
